1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus of this invention resides in the area of patient movers and more particularly relates to a planer structure which is utilized for moving a patient from one supporting surface to an adjacent supporting surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Patient moving apparatus are well known in the prior art. They are utilized to move a patient, for example, from a bed to an adjacent supporting surface such as a gurney; to transport the patient elsewhere within a hospital or other institution; or to move a patient from one bed to another. Also such patient movers are utilized to move a patient from a gurney to an x-ray table where it is desirable that the patient mover be essentially radiolucent so that the apparatus does not have to be removed from under the patient when the patient is x-rayed in place thereon. Sheets are commonly used as patient movers whereby hospital employees will grasp the sides of the sheet with the patient thereon and then slide the sheet with the patient thereon from, for example, a bed to another supporting surface, such as a gurney. Sheets, however, lack rigidity on which to partially support the patient during such move, and they also do not have convenient grasping means other than by bunching the sheet's end in one's hand for the lifting and moving.
In an effort to provide easier and safer means of patient moving from one supporting surface to another, many devices have been produced over the years, for example, the Patient Shifting Aid and Method of Buchman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,079 which discloses a plastic slab having hand-hold openings along its sides. The patient is placed on the slab and pulled from one supporting surface to another more easily because the slab has a smooth sliding bottom surface to minimize frictional resistance to the sliding movement of the patient mover with the weight of the patient thereon. Another such device is a patient transfer mattress called a Trans-Mat made by Victoreen, Inc. which is indicated as patent pending and which is a mat with padding in the center with hand-holds around the edges and solid plastic members in the hand-holds so that the hand-holds will not crimp or close against the carriers' hands. This feature is useful as this device is designed to be lifted and not slid. A patient is placed thereon and then lifted and carried from one surface to the other. This method, though, might be inconvenient if the staff members moving the patient have insufficient strength to lift the patient or if there is only one staff person to do the moving. Thus in many instances the sliding type of patient mover is more desirable.
Other types of patient movement apparatus are known such as devices having a series of rollers therein. Such devices are slipped under the patient and rollers surrounded by a cover cause the movement therearound of the cover material which allows the patient to be "rolled" on the device from one supporting surface to another. These devices, though, are heavy and rigid and can be difficult to handle and maneuver successfully.
There are other structures utilized for moving patients which combine the features of rollers or planer members such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,736 to Fedele for a Device for Moving or Positioning a Patient in a Bed or U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,914 to Treat for a Patient Positioning Device which device facilitates longitudinal shifting of a patient on a bed, such device being a planar sheetlike member having a slippery bottom surface and a higher-friction top surface to retain the patient thereon while allowing the structure to be slid longitudinally on a bed. Such a device also can be used for tranverse shifting and for lifting if enough individuals are available to use all the hand-holds of the device.
It should be noted that patient moving devices are distinguishable in the art from stretcher and litter devices because stretchers and litters are adapted to support the patient independently of the underlying supporting surface, and a patient can be transported thereon away from the underlying bed or supporting surface. Patient-moving devices are only utilized for transportation of the patient from one supporting surface to an adjacent supporting surface with the underlying surfaces always providing the necessary support to hold the patient and the patient-moving device being merely the means to transport the patient easily by sliding from one surface to the other.